Academies are national institutions that have among their activities an aim to recognise and promote excellence in the disciplines that they represent. Fellows of Academies are acknowledged experts elected by their peers in recognition of the impact of their scholarship and practice.
Australia
There are two learned academies in Australia in which the social science disciplines in this study are represented.
The Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH) was established in 1969. It is a national body for the humanities in Australia, championing the contribution that humanities, arts and culture make to national life, with a Fellowship of over 600 leaders and experts in culture, history, languages, linguistics, philosophy and ethics, archaeology and heritage. It has Fellows from two disciplines in this study. In 2020 women were 35 per cent of fellows from history, but just 14 per cent of fellows from philosophy.
The Australian Academy of the Social Sciences (ASSA) was established in 1971. Fellows are elected by their peers for their distinguished achievements and exceptional contributions made to the social sciences across 18 disciplines. It has fellows from each of the five disciplines in this study. The proportion of women Fellows from each discipline in ASSA shows a similar pattern to academic appointments in Australia. The ASSA includes Economic History as a separate discipline, in which, in 2020, the number of women was just 10 per cent.
Figure 1. Fellows of Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia by discipline and gender, 2020
Source: GESS researchers's calculations from AAH website and ASSA website(accessed July 2020).
Canada
The fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) comprises over 2000 peer-elected Canadian scholars, artists, and scientists. The RSC website describes fellows as ‘distinguished men and women from all branches of learning who have made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life’ who are elected – ‘after rigorous evaluation and review of their accomplishments’ –to one of the Society’s three Academies – the Academy of Arts and Humanities; the Academy of Social Sciences; and the Academy of Science.
A list of RSC Fellows was downloaded from their website in July 2020 and a count was made of the Fellows in the five disciplines in this study.
Figure 3. Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada by discipline and gender, 2020
Source: GESS researcher’ calculations from Royal Society of Canada website (accessed July 2020). The count of women in economics (5 per cent) is three woman. Two names in history and one in political science were unable to be determined and were excluded from the total count.
United Kingdom
The British Academy was established in 1902. The website describes the Academy as ‘a fellowship of around 1,400 leading national and international academics elected for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences.’
A count was made of the listed Fellows in each of the five disciplines in this study. Economics and Economics History is one section in British Academy classification. Four sections have been included under the discipline of history: Classical Antiquity, Medieval Studies, Early Modern History to 1850, Modern History from 1850.
Figure 4: Fellows of the British Academy, 2020
Source: GESS researchers’ calculations from British Academy website (accessed July 2020). Where more than one section was given for a Fellow, the first listed section was used.
United States
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780. The Academy’s website states that it ‘honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world.’ It further states that Academy members ‘include those who discover and advance knowledge and those who apply knowledge to the problems of society.’ More than 13,500 members have been elected since 1780.
The website shows the year in which scholars became members. The longest surviving members for each discipline are Economics 1956, History 1962, Philosophy and Religious Studies 1968, Political Science 1968, Sociology 1973. The first woman economist to become a member was in 1983 and 69 per cent of women economists fellows have become so since 2012. The first woman historian became a member in 1973 and 50 per cent of women historian fellows have become members since 2009. The first woman political scientist became a member in 1978 and 50 per cent of women political scientist members became members since 2007. The first woman philosopher became a member in 1988 and 60 per cent of women philosophers have become members since 2011. The first woman sociologist became a member in 1985.
Figure 5. Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2020
Source: GESS researchers’ calculations fromAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences website (accessed June 2019).
Notes on methodology
- Counts were made manually from publicly available lists on the Academy websites.
- All ambiguous names were checked with the profile of the Fellow or through a further web search to clarify gender.
- Only current members were counted.